Misuse of Magic
by Dragon-Sigma
Summary: Thor tells a story from his childhood.


"What's up, Doc?" Tony Stark walked into the Avengers' main living area, dropping a piece of evil bank-robbing robot on a table.

" 'What's up, Doc?' Really, Stark?" Coulson gave him a look before returning to his tablet, "And what have you been doing?"

"You know, saving people, hunting things. The usual."

"Could you keep your pop culture references to maybe one decade at a time? You'll confuse Cap," Natasha said, getting an annoyed look from Steve.

"I know what he means," Steve said.

"That still doesn't answer my question." Tony walked across the room to the couch where Bruce was sitting, with Thor next to him. "What's up," he leaned down and grinned at Bruce, "Doc?"

"That's a terrible pick-up line, Stark." Coulson said.

"Well good, because it's not supposed to be," Tony replied, gifting Coulson with his you-are-terminally-stupid face. "I'm saving the pick-up lines for Captain Pretty Boy over there."

There was a choking sound from across the room. Tony gave Steve a grin and turned back to Bruce.

"I'm doing fine. Just tired. It all went pretty smoothly after you went after those looters." He squinted at the lab review he was reading. "Tony, you should look at this," he said, motioning with the physics journal. "This study is using completely the wrong numbers. Those element weights are inaccurate. How did this even get published?" He moved to stand up, but Thor pushed him back down with one big hand. Coulson smiled.

"No, no, you_stay put_, Banner, until SHIELD medical gets a look at you."

"I'm fine, Phil," Bruce insisted, "Those agents need help a lot more than I do."

"Lemmie see that," Tony snatched the entire folder from Bruce and swung into a chair. Steve gave him a look before handing Bruce the tablet he'd been using.

"That's why they're getting attention first," Coulson said, "I'm still not letting you do any more work until you get checked out. We don't know what that spell did to you."

"Seemed to confuse the hell out of Hulk," Tony said. "Good thing the big guy had the sense to sit down instead of flail everywhere like that robot thing did. Don't ask me how Doom got that magic wand, though."

"We still need a final report on what happened," Coulson said, cutting in before Tony could attempt to monologe the entire battle. "So Thor turned the wand on the robot and it tore itself apart?"

"About right, yeah," Clint commented. "Didn't know you could do that, Thor. Us muggles certainly couldn't make it work." He was sitting on top on a cabinet, checking his bow for damage. "Saved our asses, though, so I guess it was a good thing."

"About that, you said the Asgardians don't use spells?" Natasha asked. She was looking over the fight recordings on a tablet. "Well, apart from Loki."

"It is unusual for us to use magic that has not been first secured in a weapon," Thor said, then added quietly,"Although my brother would often study magic and use it as he wanted."

"Are we doing the family talk?" Tony interrupted, "Because if we're doing the family talk, I'm getting out of here." He disappeared out the door, still holding Bruce's documents. A few of the others glared after him.

"He does care," Bruce reminded Thor.

"I know. It is that he is still afraid to feel."

"If you do want to talk about... you know, home, we'll listen," Steve told him.

"I would like to. I have said it is unusual for Asgardians to use spells. Before this day, I had used magic only once, and then cruelly." He paused, remembering.

"Was this involving Loki?" Bruce asked.

"It was. The times I have been unkind to him number many," Thor said, looking away. "And that I regret with all my heart." He sighed.

"We're all like that, Thor," Bruce said gently, putting the tablet aside. "You don't get to be a superhero without regrets. Things you wish you hadn't done, things you could have done better. But that's what makes you who you are. You wish things had gone differently, but you wouldn't be the same if they had."

"True. Yet it will always weigh heavily on me." Thor paused a moment in thought before starting his story.

"He was always finding trouble, especially in our youth. Sometimes I would join him. More often, he would attempt to join my games, where I would selfishly refuse him a part."

"You didn't want your annoying little brother getting in the way. That's normal."

"But unkind all the same. The days I accompanied him in his mischief went little better. Once, he caught a rumor that a jar of magic sand was hidden in a secret chamber within the weapons hall. Although I had misgivings, for we had promised never to enter without permission, Loki soon convinced me to follow him. He led me down to the chamber, having bespelled the guards into sleep. Even so, we barely were able to touch the glowing sand before our rulebreaking was found out."

"You got caught?"

"Aye. Father was furious, and rightly so, for the magic we sought was sinister beyond our comprehension. We were punished severely for our trespass: both whipped for disobedience, after Loki was made to apologize to the guards he had charmed and his study-books were taken from him. And I was forbidden from a feast I had desperately wished to attend.

"Much later, while my brother slept, I still raged, blaming him most unfairly for my missing the feast. I discovered some grains of sand clinging to my cloak. These I gathered, and seeking to punish him for our misadventure, called on the magic to send Loki nightmares. Though I felt vindictive and justified for that short time, when I heard him crying, I knew I had done wrong.

"I later learned that what we had thought was magic sand was in truth crystals of fear energy, gathered as a powerful weapon against Asgard's enemies. And so I wonder still, with horror, what terrible dreams I could have given Loki to leave him shaking and crying such that even Mother could not comfort him."

Silence for a few moments.

"I suppose that is pretty bad. But you were a kid. Kids do things like that. And you recognized it was wrong; that's better than most people can do," Bruce said.

"But to know I was, even then, capable of that cruelty... it is a shame I cannot shake."

Surprisingly, it was Natasha who spoke next. "You need to focus on the mission ahead of you. Not the past, unless it's what you learned from the past. That's all any of us can do. The world isn't going to save itself, so we've got to keep working."

One of Coulson's many secret-agent gadgets bleeped. Thor brightened.

"And I believe that is our summons to protect this realm! Am I correct, Son of Coul?"

The agent laughed, causing Natasha and Clint to exchange concerned glances. "Nah. Fury just wants that report on his desk. His exact words were actually 'half an hour ago or I'll send Agent Hill to steal all of Stark's booze.'"

"Well them," Clint said, as Tony reentered the room and started to complain about how nobody could ever steal his stuff, "I guess we better get on it!"


End file.
